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My Credential for Adobe - General Help/FAQ

1. What can I use my My Credential for Adobe® certificate for?
2. Can I certify my PDF documents from a computer other than the one I used to pick up my certificate?
3. Why can't I just sign my Adobe® Acrobat® documents with a standard certificate?
4. How do I sign an Adobe® Acrobat® Document with my new token?
5. What if I lose my token?
6. What if I forget my token password?
7. What is the difference between certifying and signing a document?
8. How does certificate revocation work?
9. When GeoTrust revokes a certificate, does that mean my documents will become invalid on Adobe® Acrobat® immediately?
10. Can I call someone at GeoTrust to walk me through this?
11. How can my Organization authorize my My Credential for Adobe® Acrobat® certificate request?
12. Where can I find the GeoTrust prescribed form used for Identity Verification for individual certificates (not affiliated with an Organization)?
13. Where in the world is this being offered?
14. How secure is this service?
15. Why do I need hardware?
16. How do you sign up?
17. Where can I obtain a guide to help me through the driver installation and certificate enrollment process?
18. I'm having difficulty installing the Token drivers. What should I do?
19. What port do I need open to access Time-Stamping and OCSP checking services?
20. Now that I have my certificate, how do I use it to certify a document using Adobe® Acrobat®?
21. Why is my web hosted certified document failing validation?
22. Where can I find additional Training materials for True Credentials for Adobe Administrators?

1. What can I use my Certified Document Service (CDS) certificate for?
You use your True Credentials for Adobe® certificate to sign and certify Adobe® Acrobat® documents. Only True Credentials for Adobe® certificates will ensure that recipients can trust the author and integrity of the document.

2. Can I certify my PDF documents from a computer other than the one I used to pick up my Certified Document Services (CDS) certificate?
In the event you want to sign and certify PDF documents using a different computer than the one you previously obtained your certificate, you'll need to download the GeoTrust CDS Root certificate and load your iKey token drivers.

Simply follow these four simple steps:

1. Download and install your iKey2032 USB drivers if you have not already. You can find these drivers at True Credentials for Acrobat® Drivers (EXE). Note: you will need to reboot your system after you install these drivers.
2. Go to your Start button > GeoTrust True Credentials for Acrobat® > iKey 2000 Series Software > Install GeoTrust CA for Adobe®
3. Click "Install Certificate" on the Certificate Window and click "Next", until the certificate installation is finished.

Please note, if you do not take this step, the recipients of your certified document will be unable to validate your identity.

3. Why can't I just sign my Adobe® Acrobat® documents with a standard certificate?
The token you get from GeoTrust contains a certificate that is recognized by Adobe Acrobat 6 and higher, although GeoTrust highly recommends the author certify with Acrobat Standard or Professional 7.0+. This certificate is pre-trusted in Adobe® Acrobat® Reader so that users will trust the author and document. Recipients will receive a trusted Spash Screen when they open up their documents.

4. How do I sign an Adobe® Acrobat® Document with my new token?
Once you receive your GeoTrust True Credentials for Adobe® Certificate you can go directly into Acrobat® and sign an existing PDF file. To do this, simply click on the sign icon on the toolbar and choose to sign or certify the document then follow the remaining steps. Review the detailed instructions (PDF).

5. What if I lose my token?
If your token is lost, you must report this to GeoTrust immediately. We will make the associated certificate unusable immediately. In addition, you will need to purchase a new certificate.

6. What if I forget my token password?
If you forget your token password you should contact GeoTrust customer support. Although you may be able to re-use your token, you will need to purchase a new certificate..

7. What is the difference between certifying and signing a document?

Certifying a document: When you save an Adobe® Acrobat® PDF document as certified, you attest to its contents and specify the types of changes that are permitted for the document to remain certified. For example, suppose that a government agency creates a form with signature fields. When the form is complete, the agency certifies the document, allowing users to change only form fields and sign the document. Users can fill in the form and sign the document, but if they remove pages or add comments, the document is no longer certified. When you save a document as certified, a blue ribbon icon appear next to the digital signature and in the Signatures tab.

Signing a document: A digital signature can be either visible or invisible. A visible signature appears in both the document and Signatures tab. An invisible signature appears only in the Signatures tab. Adding a signatures does not affect the validy of existing signatures in the document. When you sign a document your signature and the related information can be sotred in a signature field embedded on the page. A signature field is an Adobe® Acrobat® form field. You can add a signatue field to a page as you sign, or you can use the Signature tool to create an empty signature field that can be signed later.

8. How does certificate revocation work?
If a certificate that was used for Adobe® Acrobat® signing has been revoked, the serial number and other relevant information will be placed in a file used in revocation checking. If the Adobe® Acrobat® environment detects a signing certificate serial number in this file the application will not be able to install or execute. This means that the associated files that were signed with this certificate will appear to be invalid to the Adobe® Acrobat® reader that displays the signed document with a revoked certificate.

9. When GeoTrust revokes a certificate, does that mean my documents will become invalid in Adobe® Acrobat® immediately?
The process will take about 24 hours to show all Adobe® Acrobat® users that the document is invalid once revocation occurs.

10. Can I call someone at GeoTrust to walk me through this process?
Yes, you can contact GeoTrust customer support.

11. How can my Organization authorize my My Credential for Adobe® certificate request?
Before receiving a My Credential for Adobe® certificate, in affiliation with an Organization, your Organization must first authorize your request by completing the Letter of Authorization (LOA) (DOC), including your business Dun & Bradstreet number or equivalent business documentation and faxing it to GeoTrust at 866-435-8452 or 858-300-5306.

12. Where can I find the GeoTrust prescribed form used for Identity Verification for individual certificates (not affiliated with an Organization)?
Download the Identity Verification form for individual requests (DOC).

13. Where in the world is this being offered?
My Credential for Adobe® is available globally, however, export restrictions may apply.

14. How secure is this service?
From the stringent identity verification through the two-factor authorization coupled with a FIPS Level II cryptographic device, relying parties can be assured the Certified PDF digital signature is valid.

15. Why do I need hardware?
GeoTrust binds the author’s identity to a private key that never leaves their FIPS level II cryptographic device (token). Authors must have both possession of the token and knowledge of the pass phrase to unlock the private key before applying a Certified signature to a PDF document.

16. How do you sign up?
Individuals who want a single certificate can start the enrollment process immediately. If applying as an individual, the user must produce a fax of a notarized government issued photo –ID that GeoTrust can use to verify his/her identity. Individuals applying for a single certificate in association with an Organization must fax a Letter of Authorization signed by an Authorized Organizational Representative that vouches for the individuals identity and permits them an Adobe® Acrobat® certificate with the Organization name in it’s identity.

17. Where can I obtain a guide to help me through the driver installation and certificate enrollment process?
Read the Installation Guide (PDF).

18. I’m having difficulty installing the Token drivers. What should I do?
There are known Microsoft issues surrounding SmartCard services that must be installed and configured correctly in order to support Cryptographic Hardware. Please contact your Systems Administrator and verify your Smart Card services are properly installed.

19. What port do I need open to access Time-Stamping and OCSP checking services?
Port 80

20. Now that I have my CDS certificate, how do I use it to certify a document using Acrobat?
Click here (PDF) for detailed steps on how to certify a PDF document.

21. Why is my web hosted certified document failing validation?
Adobe Reader 7.0 has a bug that causes data validation to occur prior to a web downloaded page being fully loaded. This is a known problem and a fix is expected to be released in Q3 2005. A work around is to have the document opened as a file or right click on the signature validation for a new validation to be performed on the fully loaded document.

22. Where can I find additional Training materials for True Credentials for Adobe Administrators?
Read the Registration Authority Training (PDF) for My Credentials for Adobe Administrators.